Literally, Mine
by stironniganisreal
Summary: Kaiden asks something of Alex that she is completely, utterly opposed to. Will his reasoning be able to sway her, or will she relent to his request? Contains major Graevale spoilers


**First up, a disclaimer is in order: I am sadly not Lynette Noni.**

 **Second up, do not read this fic unless you have read and finished Graevale. I repeat:**

 **DO**

 **NOT**

 **READ**

 **UNLESS**

 **YOU**

 **HAVE**

 **FINISHED**

 **GRAEVALE**

 **Because this contains more spoilers than I can count and I would hate to spoil this for anyone. I truly would.**

 **Thirdly, do not kill me for how this ends. I didn't particularly want to go through that, the idea of this fic was just solely based on the events beforehand.**

 **And last up, please leave a review and tell me what you think!**

 ** _Literally, Mine_**

If anyone was to barge into the room at that very moment, they would immediately see the scene of two humans, the brown-haired girl gaping up at her slightly older male companion, a shocked and appalled expression clearly displayed on her face. The fact that they were humans alone was a commodity: their current location was Tia Auras, a place practically forbidden to human access. But these two humans weren't _normal_ , weren't _ordinary_ , weren't _mundane_. In fact, they were the ones who were possibly about to save billions of mortal lives.

" _What did you just say_?!" exclaimed Alexandra Jennings, her eyes wide and blazing with shock. She seemed unable to snap out of her surprise, the more the moments wore on.

"I said," replied Kaiden James coolly, the way he was looking at her making the way he spoke to her not as condescending as it normally would be considered. "I think it'd be a good idea if you Claimed me."

"Are you completely _mad_? Is there something about your mental health stability I should know about?" Alex shot back hysterically, gripping her scalp in agitation. "That is the stupidest - the most idiotic - do you have any idea how that could end?!"

"Calm down," Kaiden soothed, stepping forward to place a steady, comforting hand on her shoulder. Usually his touch could coax Alex to relax, but not in the current circumstance. When Alex showed no signs of steadying herself, he squeezed her shoulder and added gently, "Please, Alex, calm down."

At his encouragement, Alex sucked in three deep, fortifying breaths, the tension slowly easing from her body, before raising her eyes tentatively to meet his.

"Why would you want me to _do_ that?"

Kaiden sighed. "Call me selfish, but - I haven't got the same abilities as you do, and it's not exactly been easy with limited human senses in _Tia Auras_ of all places."

Alex swallowed thickly, acknowledging his argument - but she had twice the number to offer. "First up, don't call yourself selfish when you are far from it. Secondly, you'd be bonded to my life force, and you'd go with me if I -"

Kaiden abruptly pressed his thumb to her mouth, silencing the rest of her words, his eyes having darkened with fierce intention. "Don't you dare say that," he said in an insistance, low voice that spoke volumes to her - but not as much as the anguish in his eyes, like the very thought of what she'd been about to say was too much. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure you survive - not only because, hypothetically, of my life, but also because I can't stand the thought of you being gone."

Just what always happened when he said something impossibly sweet, Alex couldn't draw proper air into her lungs, a hot blush beginning to spread across her cheeks. When Kaiden lowered his hand from her mouth, she expected him to continue his debate. But he surprised her, which was rather typical of him, by leaning over and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Alex clamped down on a squeak as he pulled back, a smug sparkle entering his eyes before dissolving again. Shaking away the voice at the back of her mind that sounded suspiciously like D.C.'s, that was yelling at her and demanding why she hadn't propped herself up and turned the forehead kiss into a liplock, she huffed out, "I'm still not going to Claim you."

"Alex." Kaiden's eyes pleaded with her as he offered her his hand, and for the first time in her life, she recoiled from his outstretched hand. She didn't smack it away, exactly, but she didn't accept it either.

" _No_."

His hand, still resting on her shoulder, squeezed comfortingly for the second time. "I trust you," he whispered. Alex's breath hitched as his hand dropped to catch her own wrist, drawing her hand up to rest on his chest, directly over his heart. "With _everything_."

Alex actually felt a rush of dizziness at the meaning in his words and the accompanying gesture. She breathed his name, barely enough sound behind it to be clearly audible, slowly pulling her hand free but not quite wanting to step out of their intimate proximity.

 _Did he just imply he loves me?_

Another reason for why she was against the idea of Claiming him; the whole telepathy thing. That was a no-go. No way could she have Kaiden marching through her thoughts - especially, God, the ones about him - and she would hate for the mind-link to make their complex relationship even more complicated.

"Alex," he repeated.

Shaking away the shrill thoughts clouding her mind, she choked out, "When I freed Jordan from being Aven's Claimling," she blanched at the memories, "- I promised myself I'd never Claim another person, no matter the cause. And you _know_ I don't break promises, Kaiden."

She watched his chest rise and fall as he slowly sucked in a breath. "I suppose it'd be too much to ask you to break one for me, then. Especially one like this."

Then he stepped back, her skin cold where the gentle, warm pressure of his touch had previously been, and Alex felt her chest ache with a spear of guilt. Kaiden was right - it had been way too hard on him with limited human ability, and she'd never forgive herself if the exertion did something awful to him - like trigger the residue of Sarinpox on his spine, that he'd once talked about. And the reasons she was holding it back were petty, illogical - she should have known that in a position as dangerous as the one he'd been in, there would be no easy way out for Niyx - and technically she'd be able to prevent him from knowing her thoughts telepathically through her own gift -

\- and if the horrible possibility of Aven discovering his gift became a reality, then the flow of her willpower would prevent, unthinkably, the inevitable of Kaiden being Claimed.

"Kaiden," Alex said, stepping foward to grasp his wrist. When he turned questioningly towards her, she pulled herself together and continued, "Are you sure you want me to Claim you? _Absolutely positive_?"

Kaiden regarded her for a long moment, his hesitation clearly his shock at her change of heart, before nodding firmly. He offered her his outstretched hand for the second time - and this time, Alex didn't refuse it.

Sucking in a final breath, Alex summoned A'enara, hoping desperately that this wouldn't prove to be a bad idea.

 **the end .**

 **Hope you enjoyed my fic! Just for the record, I do write for other fandoms, but the content I've uploaded is either TMC or PJO. I'm hoping to pump out some Harry Potter and Hunger Games at some point, so keep an eye out for that!**


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